Price talks mental health
The Oskaloosa HeraldSep 25, 2018
Price visited with the Herald on Thursday and has made recent stops across the state, decrying the lack of mental health care resources available. Other
"We do not have the number of beds that we should have. We rank dead last in the number of psychiatric beds in the country. We're 47th in the number of psychiatric licenses to provide care in the country as well," he said. "And so what we've seen over and over again is that there's just been a lack of investment in mental health funding across the state. And that's leading to communities that are struggling to try and meet these needs. We [have] more people who are not getting the cares that they need."
Price said he has heard from law enforcement officials that much of their resources are spent dealing with mental health issues. Officers have to drive people to places such as
It's basically a revolving door, Price said, because there's not a system to provide care for people with mental health care needs.
"They get some care and then folks are good for a while," he said, "then they stop taking their medicine, then they have an episode, then they get arrested, then they go to the jail and they get some care and then they get better, then they go out."
On top of that, Price said, a lot of mental health care providers across the state rely on Medicaid funding.
"And so what's happening because of this privatized Medicaid, up in
In order to stop that revolving door, Price said, more mental health bed are needed.
"Which means we need more funding for the mental health services in the state. This administration --
Price said people should not be thrown in jail just because they have mental health issues.
"They need to get care, they need to be seen by licensed, trained people who actually can help folks, address they have, and then go out and become productive members of society," he said. "But that's not the case here. What we're seeing is we're just throwing people in jail. The way you stop this is by having real programs in communities, real dollars in communities, resources there that can actually help break that cycle and get people onto a path of sustainability and productivity and being healthy and happy in our communities."
That takes funding, Price said.
"The last two years, the legislature has had to go in and do a mid-year budget cut. Well sometimes that happens," he said. "But this is completely self-inflicted and the only reason why it's happening is because we're giving out too many tax credits to out of state corporations."
The only thing the legislature has kept harmless in budget cut conversations, Price said, are tax credits to out of state corporations.
"And so we don't see them trying to hold education harmless. We don't see them trying to hold human services harmless," he said. "No, those take cuts. Human services got like a
Those dollars should be used for other purposes, Price said.
"They keep trying to cut our way into prosperity and we can't do it," he said. "The thing we need to cut is stop giving away our tax dollars to out of state corporations and use those resources to help people get better and help people get the services they need."
Managing editor
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